Jonas Mekas Reviews The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century Poetry May 1, 2012: Renowned avant-gardist writer, curator and filmmaker Jonas Mekas gives the most honest review yet of The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century Poetry in this video diary. "John Wieners is not included!" "Helen Adam is not included!" Mekas stacks book by book of those excluded from the anthology, including Paul Blackburn, Kenneth Patchen, [...] by Harriet Staff

Rita Dove On the Poets She’s “following with great hope” February 20, 2012: Bill Moyers asked Rita Dove "whom she considers the 21st century’s Allen Ginsberg or Countee Cullen" and she rattled off this list, complete with audio/video clips, of poets under 40. by Harriet Staff

President Obama Quoted Dickinson and Whitman in Awarding Rita Dove and John Ashbery February 14, 2012: Well, the 2011 National Medals of Arts and Humanities ceremony took place last night at the White House--President Obama honored Rita Dove with the National Humanities Medal, and John Ashbery received the National Medal of the Arts. As Coldfront notes, a combined 15 artists were awarded medals at the ceremony, including actor Al Pacino. Turns out [...] by Harriet Staff

Rita Dove to be on Dancing with the Stars February 13, 2012: Not really. But, the soon-to-be-awarded (see other post from today) Rita Dove can cut quite a rug. Here's a video of her getting down to a Mary Chapin Carpenter jam. by Harriet Staff

Ashbery, Dove Receive Major Awards February 13, 2012: When it comes to winning major poetry awards, some poets are just killing it. Rita Dove racks up a National Medal of the Arts, while John Ashbery takes home a National Humanities Medal, per this LA Times blog article. From said article: The White House announced the recipients of the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities [...] by Harriet Staff

A call for more poetry activists among the laureates March 29, 2011: In an opinion piece for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Julia Baird laments the relative invisibility of poet laureates among the general public. The deficiency isn't in the public's taste for poetry but rather the title itself, the kind of person it's bestowed upon and what it should require of its bearer. Baird recalls the efforts of Joseph Brodsky [...] by Harriet Staff